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Message: <blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 9757052" data-attributes="member: 5948">I have mixed feelings about this.  Rapiers are Far Too Good in 5e, definitely, and they make dex-only melee builds too viable and Strength redundant in too many places (and ensure that too many other weapons never get a look in).  Dex gets you a good AC, good ranged attacks with the better ranged weapons in the game, and a bunch of bonuses to good skills and a frequently-used saving throw.  Strength ... not so much utility.  In 3e weapon finesse was basically a mandatory feat for anyone not going the high-str route.  Mandatory feats are bad design (as are mandatory invocations, Agonizing Blast I'm looking at you).  They're a sign that your base system needs work. As for real life rapiers - I'm no expert other than a few years of fencing many decades ago, but paperfolder vs marine is a poor comparison.  I'd prefer to say a rapier would be more deadly in the hands of a gymnast than a bodybuilder.  Speed and flexibility counts, precision point control counts, and that requires your shoulders to have a wide range of motion , and demands fine coordination of your fourth and fifth fingers for disengages etc.  I still wouldn't like to get stabbed by a bodybuilder with a rapier, mind you!But that leads in to the whole debate about all or nothing ability score builds for melee combatants.  One day I'd like to see a d&d system in which a Str 14 Dex 14 fighter (your hypothetical marine, for instance) is as effective as as a Str 18 Dex 10 (my bodybuilder) or Str 10 Dex 18 (my gymnast) fighter.  Being well-rounded should be a viable strategy.</blockquote>

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